The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 became the genesis of animal emergency management and created significant reforms in the US particularly the passage of the Pets Emergency and Transportation Standards Act in 2006 that required state and local emergency management arrangements to be...

Nonhuman animal guardians are more at risk during natural disasters because they are likely to delay or refuse evacuation and return to evacuated disaster sites to rescue animals. Research on the human-animal bond (HAB) views animal guardians' actions as a reflection of a strong attachment....

This review examines the perceptual and behavioural influences that pet-attachment has on the ways in which owners view risk, appraise threat, and respond to environmental hazards. Understanding how human-companion animal relationships function in this context has profound implications for the...

Immeasurable social-environmental damage and losses occur in catastrophic disasters related to hydro meteorological events. Some of them have prominence to the authorities who work in the emergency context and others do not. In Brazil, in general, animals seriously affected in these disasters...

The purpose of this study was to describe intake procedures in Colorado animal shelters, compare infectious disease screening protocols in shelters taking in animals from out-of-state to shelters only accepting animals from Colorado, and analyze perceived risk of diseases in Colorado by...

On October 6, 2006 President Bush signed the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act (PETS Act, Pub. Law No. 109-308). The Act ensures that state and local emergency preparedness operational plans address the needs of individuals with household pets and service animals following a major...

This publication lists agencies and other organizations that can help locate missing pets and livestock, assist with carcass disposal, provide animal feed, and help in other ways after a disaster. There are phone numbers and Web addresses for each organization.

Increased vulnerability to natural disasters has been associated with particular groups in the community. This includes those who are considered de facto vulnerable (children, older people, those with disabilities etc.) and those who own pets (not to mention pets themselves). The potential for...

I originally chose this topic because I have always been fond of New Orleans, Louisiana and animals. My mother was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and would often visit New Orleans. Growing up, she spoke of New Orleans’ culture, music and food. In December 2010 I visited New...

Many countries, including Japan, have suffered from extensive damage due to earthquakes (EQs). In Japan, there is the possibility that more large EQs, such as the Tonankai and Nankai EQs, may occur in the near future. The Headquarters for Earthquake Research Promotion assumes that these EQs would...

In short-term earthquake risk forecasting, the avoidance of false alarms is of utmost importance to preclude the possibility of unnecessary panic among populations in seismic hazard areas. Unusual animal behaviour prior to earthquakes has been reported for millennia but has rarely been...

The former statistical properties summarized by Rikitake (1998) on unusual animal behavior before an earthquake (EQ) have first been presented by using two parameters (epicentral distance (D) of an anomaly and its precursor (or lead) time (T)). Three plots are utilized to characterize the unusual...

One of the many impacts of natural disasters on the well-being of the humans who experience them is enforced abandonment and loss of companion animals. Hurricane Katrina, which struck the gulf coast of the United States in late August, 2005, was such a disaster. This study assessed the...

From April 29 to May 1, 2007, the University of Guelph hosted a symposium, Caring During Crisis: Animal Welfare During Pandemics and Natural Disasters, with the objectives (a) of raising awareness about how nonhuman animals and the people who care for them are affected during emergencies and (b)...